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Video: Study: Open windows pose big risks for kids

Transcript of: Study: Open windows pose big risks for kids

ANN CURRY, co-host:Back now at 7:43. There's an important warning out this morning from the
American Academy of Pediatrics
about the dangers of children falling out of windows. It happens to more than 5,000 kids every year and the injuries can be severe.
NBC
's
Tom Costello
has more this morning.
Tom
, good morning.

TOM COSTELLO reporting:Hi, Ann. Good morning to you. Spring, summer and fall are the seasons when this most often happens because, of course, the windows are open. Kids love to explore, climb up on a piece of furniture, they push against the screen, and all too often tragedy can follow. At the
Bacher
home in
Washington state
,
Kevin
and
Kelli
thought their two boys were asleep in their bunk beds upstairs until they heard a terrible crash and thud.

Mr. KEVIN BACHER (Victims' Father):That was the worst moment of our lives, when we opened the back door and the boys were on the concrete patio behind the house.

COSTELLO:Seven-year-old
David
and four-year-old
Daniel
had leaned on the screen and tumbled out of their
window
.
David
's injuries were not life-threatening, but
Daniel
was struggling to breathe.

Ms. KELLI BACHER (Victims' Mother):I didn't know if they were going to survive.

COSTELLO:Daniel
was airlifted to
Tacoma General Hospital
, then to
Children's Hospital
in
Seattle
. Unresponsive at first, with a skull fracture, he awoke unable to talk or swallow, with weakness along his right side.

Ms. ANGELA MICKALIDE:They're meant to keep bugs out, not children inside the house.

COSTELLO:Safe Kids
'
Angela Mickalide
hears similar stories year-round. And new research shows
window falls
are not limited to big cities with big apartment buildings. While 6 1/2 percent of kids who fell were three stories or more above the ground, nearly 31 percent of the kids fell from one-story windows, and nearly 63 percent fell from two stories.

Source:American Academy of Pediatrics

COSTELLO:Single-family homes are very often the scene of
window falls
.

Dr. GARY A. SMITH (Nationwide Children's Hospital):Many of these children, about half, had
injuries to the head
or face.

COSTELLO:Of the 5200 kids who fall out of windows every year, the vast majority are boys, five years old or younger.

Source:American Academy of Pediatrics

COSTELLO:Children four and under are most likely to sustain
head injuries
, be hospitalized or die of their injuries. Experts urge parents to install
window
stops, to prevent kids from raising the
window
, and
window
guards if the
window
is left open.

Ms. MICKALIDE:They allow the
window
to be open for the cool breeze to come in, but the children can't fall out.

COSTELLO:Back in
Washington
,
Daniel
spent a month in the hospital and years in therapy. Today, he's 10, and
David
is 13.

Mr. BACHER:Every day we go in and we tuck them in at night, and every day I
thank God
that they're still here.

COSTELLO:Both
Boston
and
New York
have developed public education programs to keep kids from falling out of high-rise windows. And in fact, they require landlords to install those
window
guards with -- where apartments -- where kids are living in apartments. Also, we should point out,
Ann
, that those
window
guards, they come with an emergency release button so that you can open up or release the guard in case of a fire.